Before the Croisette, before the festival, before the yachts — Cannes was a Ligurian fishing village under the Lérins monks. The Musée de la Castre sits on the foundations of their 11th-century castle on Le Suquet hill. The Vieux Port below was the harbour from Roman times. Walk both, with 13 narrations covering the medieval and the maritime — the Cannes that existed for 800 years before the first film projector arrived.
Every stop traces back to primary archaeological and heritage records. Not AI-generated guesses. Here's how each narration gets built.
Each stop pulls from OpenStreetMap · 13 features in this old town (the open mapping database used by Apple Maps and Tesla), Wikidata · 19 cross-referenced entries (the peer-reviewed structured-data project), the heritage authority below, and primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against the verified sources above. Anything that can't be supported gets cut.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
The 11th-century Lérins-monks' castle on the hill, the Musée de la Castre that inhabits it now, the church of Notre-Dame d'Espérance where Cannes mariners prayed before voyages, and the views across the Bay of Cannes to the Lérins islands.
The fishing port that has existed since Roman times. The pastel facades along Quai Saint-Pierre, the daily Marché Forville one block inland, and the seafront where the daily ferries leave for the Lérins islands.
The covered Marché Forville built in 1934, the rue Saint-Antoine and rue du Suquet that wind up the hill, and the medieval lanes whose walls predate the Belle-Époque resort by 500 years.
The 11th-century castle of the Lérins monks, who held Cannes from the 5th century onward. The 1077 tower (Tour du Suquet) still stands. The museum's archaeology collections cover the Mediterranean — pre-Columbian, Oceanic, Himalayan — from a 19th-century Dutch collector's donation.
The Gothic-Renaissance church on top of Le Suquet where Cannes mariners prayed before voyages. The wooden ex-voto models of ships hanging from the rafters were left by sailors who survived storms. Still active as a parish church.
The natural harbour that supported Cannes for two thousand years. The pastel facades along Quai Saint-Pierre date from the 19th century. The Allées de la Liberté beside it host the morning flower market and the evening boules players.
The covered Provençal market — soaps, olives, anchoïade, socca. Built in 1934 on the site of a 19th-century open-air market. Daily except Mondays. Still where Cannes residents shop, not where tourists go.
The square 22-metre watchtower at the highest point of Le Suquet. Built by the Lérins monks to watch for Saracen raids — a real fear in the 11th century. The view from its base covers the Bay of Cannes, the Lérins islands, and the Esterel coastline.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 13 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each narration connects what you can see to the Cannes that existed before the film festival — Roman harbour, Lérins-monk village, fishing port. The festival is 78 years old; the harbour is 2,000.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Built for the cruise-day walker who wants the old Cannes, not the Croisette. About an hour with the modest climb up Le Suquet. Concise narrations that cover the medieval village without sentimentalising it.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1 hour audio total, but you walk at your own pace. 13 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Your access lasts 30 days from purchase, so revisit as often as you like.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.
GPS-triggered audio tours for heritage sites worldwide.